Phil Simms: "Eli Manning is not elite"
"No, he is not one of the elites," Simms said. "Because when I hear the word elite, I'm thinking about guys that can make unbelievable plays on the field by themselves. There are very few quarterbacks in that category.
"So yes, Eli has been a tremendous team player. He has been MVP of the Super Bowl twice. I know that. But the way I look at it, the answer is no."
Take that Eli! Us Patriots fans, we've got to take the little victories we can against the Giants.
In reality though, this just goes to show how stupid this "elite quarterback" stuff is. Was Eli Manning that different of a quarterback after winning a Superbowl than he was in the year he threw so many flukey interceptions? No, not really.
Fans and media will just overreact the latest flashy thing that happens. Like a dog or something.
The Giants won the Superbowl and suddenly people were debating whether Tom Coughlin was a better coach than Bill Belichick. Do they not remember that they were the same people debating whether or not the Giants should fire Coughlin months before?
The same point applies here. As the article points out, Phil Simms said that Eli Manning was a destined Hall of Famer back in August. Back when the freshest memory in everyone's mind was Eli hoisting the Lombard--
Yeah, I don't want to complete that sentence.
Anyway, a sentence I would love to write is that now the freshest thing in everyone's minds is how awful Manning has looked in the past few games. Manning hasn't thrown a touchdown in three games but has thrown four interceptions.
Pretty terrible!
Still, Manning's slump doesn't matter to me. I still think he's an elite quarterback.
The way I judge it is, are you scared to death of facing that Quarterback? Maybe I'm biased as a New England fan but yes, I'll emphatically shart if Eli Manning has the ball against the Patriots defense in the fourth quarter of the Superbowl again.
